Review: Goldie Dver Classic and Classy in THE RHYTHM OF LIFE at The Laurie Beechman Theatre

MAC Award winner and repeated nominee Goldie Dver is back at work and proving, once more, why she keeps getting invited back to the awards table.  The last time Dver was on the New York City solo show scene, she was presenting her one woman tribute to Anthony Newley, and this time around, Goldie has produced a one woman tribute to Dorothy Fields… or has she?  See, that’s the thing about Goldie Dver and her cabaret career - every show that she does has an intention, every performance that she writes has layers, and every show that she performs has a story, one that is relatable, one that is accessible, and one that is, ultimately, about her and her life experiences.  We don’t go to shows to be lectured to - we can do that at the Learning Annex, we can call up any number of TED Talks for a lecture.  We go to shows to hear stories.  Sometimes the stories are a series of songs performed by a singer who, maybe, doesn’t have a wish to tell their own story - that series of songs still has value, especially to lovers of music and lyrics and the writers who create both.  Sometimes the series of songs exists within the framework of the artist’s story, so that we, the audience, get the benefit of all those little stories, as well as the big one.  In true Dver fashion, Goldie has doubled down on the storytelling so that, inside of the RHYTHM OF LIFE house, she is telling her story, her parents’ story, Dorothy Fields’ story, and every single little story of Dorothy’s that Goldie has come to tell with music.  You see, this isn’t a tribute show - it’s a catalogue show.  There isn’t a throughline about Dorothy Fields, just a conversation between Goldie Dver and her audience about Goldie, Dorothy, show business, Broadway, history, and even the people in the seats out front.  THIS is an ACT.

THE RHYTHM OF LIFE transforms The Laurie Beechman Theatre into a Judy Garland movie, or maybe Playboy After Dark or that TV special from the Seventies with Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, and Ethel Merman.  Goldie and her director, James Beaman, haven’t done anything to the Beechman itself - the lovely mylar-spangled walls are the same, the glamorous drapes with ropes and tassels still adorn the stage, the light grid is still rich with colors of the carousel (though this show has the best lighting design I’ve yet seen at this club, ever).  What Beaman and Dver have done is extremely simple:  they placed the most elegant floral arrangement you’ve ever seen in your life on top of the piano, which seems to have been shined within an inch of its life, sparkling in the fresnels like it never has before.  Then they angled the piano JUST the right way so that you can really see Dan Pardo, who is a character in their Dorothy Fields play.  Then they dressed Dan, Bassist John Miller, and Drummer Chip Fabrizi in tuxedos.  Then they dressed Goldie in what can only be described as the Joan Crawford version of a tuxedo:  no trou(!), only a voluminous satin ballgown skirt, a tuxedo shirt with a popped collar, and just the right amount of bling at the ears, the wrist, the waist, and a couple of fingers.  It’s like stepping back in time into a nightclub from the swankiest version of the Sixties, with just a tinge of trouble… like maybe there’s a gangster seated at table ten, or a dastardly club manager waiting in the wings, or a jealous female peeping through the curtains with mischief on her mind.  This is the vibe that Goldie and co. have created for their Dorothy Fields show … the only thing missing is the atmospheric cigarette smoke so prevalent back in the day that modern zoning laws have (thankfully) ruled out.  Goldie Dver is here to take you back in time, and, that, she achieves at a level ten.  This is cabaret artistry personified.

As for the show itself, it is beyond critique.  The structure of Dver’s script is perfect, whether the tale being told is about her mom and dad (note the photo of them on the piano) or about her childhood (she has arrived with mementos from her own life), whether the reminiscences being recounted regale us with factoids of Fields’ prolific career or shine a light on Goldie’s time treading the boards.  Like a gentle pinball machine, Goldie drops us into this pocket of her trajectory, and then into that pocket of theirs, and she does it with ease and a fair amount of socializing with the audience (Dver has never shied away from crowd work in her appearances).  She requires no linear voyage to make the audience follow her, all she needs is intention, which she has in abundance.  She also has an incredible (underline it) band supporting her, led by Dan Pardo, who is not only a musical marvel, he’s a doggone fine performer himself.  Joining in for some banter, Dan does scene work very well.  Chiming in on some duets, Dan is an extremely palatable musical talent.  He plays well, he plays well with others, and he sounds amazing, both as a singer and as a pianist (his arrangements for Goldie are top of the line).  Between Pardo and Misters Fabrizi and Miller, the Peggy Lee/Frank Sinatra effect is complete; even without dialogue or direction, the gentlemen of the band embody the atmosphere provided by the suits, the set, and the situation.  They are characters in THE RHYTHM OF LIFE story, and, like true professionals, they commit to the bit, one hundred percent. 

Musically, the program is also beyond reproach.  Naturally, on her opening night of June 2nd, there were little stumbles in the recitation of dialogue, here and there, maybe some memory gone awry (Dan to the rescue!), the kind of thing that happens to everyone on their first night - but when it came to the singing, there were no hiccups, not one.  Goldie is in great voice.  There are newfound textures to her sound, a gravitas that grows out of her low notes, and a sweetness surrounding her soprano.  There are no notes to be given, with regard to Dver’s technique as a singer - as for the storytelling that she layers in and around these American Songbook treasures, Goldie’s acting training is showing.   Whether playing the park-and-bark scene with opening numbers “I’m a Brass Band” and “I Feel a Song Coming On” or groovin’ and jivin’ around the entire stage to title track “The Rhythm of Life,” Dver is delivering fully realized performances of Fields’ lyrics, and since this is a catalogue of a lyricist’s work, that’s everything.  Goldie, Dan, and Jamie have selected a thorough cross-section of Fields’ work throughout the years, and she is performing appropriate renditions of the compositions, sometimes allowing the author’s original intent to take the light, like a swoony “Don’t Blame Me,” while other tracks have been treated to one of Pardo’s stunning arrangements, like a mashup of “The Way You Look Tonight” with “I’m Way Ahead.”  From start to finish, the entire program rises to the top - indeed, something surprising happened to this writer on June 2nd.   When I review a show, I write a star next to the songs I consider highlights.  This does not happen, ever, but when I got home and opened the folder with my notes on it, this is what I saw:

Those scribbled out stars speak volumes for the quality of entertainment, for the level of storytelling being showcased by Dver and co., which need surprise no one.  Goldie’s track record indicates that she knows what she’s doing when she sits down to create - especially when it comes to picking collaborators, and this show is no different from the rest.  But there’s something different about her.  She’s having a moment, she’s in the pocket.  After the Newley show, and her Sneak Peek series, her Crazy Coqs debut, and the work she is doing within the cabaret community, Goldie Dver seems to be standing in a new light, and with the people who strive for her to be in that light, many of whom are on the RHYTHM OF LIFE creatives list.  She is fortunate in her association with these gentlemen, each of whom appears in service of her artistry by offering her theirs, particularly the gent driving the train.  Nobody understands this format better than James Beaman, and he has put Goldie Dver on a kind of cabaret version of the Twentieth Century Limited, deftly delivering her onto the stage of the Laurie Beechman, where, hopefully, we can all catch her and her monkey-suited musicians honoring Dorothy Fields and the golden age of the Nightclub Act again, real soon.

Goldie Dver will play THE RHYTM OF LIFE again on September 17th at 7 pm.  Tickets can be accessed HERE.

Find great shows to see on the Laurie Beechman website HERE.

Visit the Goldie Dver website HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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